The present invention relates to a seat raiser.
With a seat raiser a seat rail provided for the longitudinal shiftability of a motor vehicle seat usually is spaced from a vehicle floor and fixed on the vehicle floor via the seat raiser. Such seat raisers usually are employed for fastening seats in larger motor vehicles, such as e.g. minibuses or transporters. Thus, a vehicle seat regularly can be completely removable and/or stowable, in order to provide additional storage space. By releasing the connection of the seat raiser with the vehicle floor, the seat then can e.g. completely be removed with the seat rail attached to the seat raiser.
A plurality of such seat raisers, usually four, usually carry the vehicle seat with a pair of seat rails, via which the vehicle seat is longitudinally shiftable, i.e. shiftable along a vehicle longitudinal axis. Via a seat raiser, a raised position of the vehicle seat typically is provided, whereby the comfort is improved for the vehicle occupant and (due to the resulting raised seating position) the field of view for a vehicle occupant sitting on the vehicle seat is enlarged.
To provide a loadable as well as quickly and easily realizable connection between the seat rail and a seat raiser, the seat rail usually is welded to a welding portion of the seat raiser at at least one welding point provided for this purpose.
For connecting the seat raiser to the vehicle floor, a fastening portion of the sea raiser in turn is provided with at least one specified fastening point. The connection to the fastening point here preferably is releasably effected via a fastening means. Such fastening means for example can be a screw or bolt, which is guided through a fastening point in the form of a through opening at the seat raiser and is turned or plugged into a fixture on the vehicle floor.
In order not to complicate the (factory) assembly of the vehicle seat on the vehicle floor or the mounting thereof by a user, just like a disassembly of the vehicle seat or its temporary removal (e.g. for providing a larger storage space), the fastening point should still be accessible relatively easily for a tool or the hand of a user.
In connection with the objective of cost and weight saving, which gains more and more priority in the automotive industry, a seat raiser furthermore should be formed as lightweight as possible. This should be achieved, however, without sacrificing the required load-carrying capacity, so that it is still possible to provide a stable connection of the vehicle seat to the vehicle floor via the seat raiser.